Immigration Reform 2015: Obama Executive Action Not Lifted By Federal Court

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday not to lift the temporary hold on U.S. President Barack Obama's executive action that would grant deportation relief to perhaps five million undocumented immigrants, reported the Associated Press. The Justice Department had requested that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverse the decision of a Texas judge who in February temporarily blocked the decree that proposed to shield undocumented immigrants who are the parents of U.S.-citizen children from deportation and to grant them work permits.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen blocked the president's plan after a 26-state coalition filed a lawsuit concerning the economic impact the plan would put on their states' governments. It is not yet clear if the government would appeal to either the full appeals court in New Orleans or to the U.S. Supreme Court, reported the AP. Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, a critic of the plan, took to Twitter to say he was pleased with the court's decision to not reverse the hold.